


Second Chances

by stberrylane



Category: Glee
Genre: Angst, M/M, Redemption, Second Chances, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29941635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stberrylane/pseuds/stberrylane
Summary: in which dave runs into kurt in new york and apologizes for his pastor where dave's date stands him up and kurt keeps him company
Relationships: Kurt Hummel/David Karofsky
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> this fic obviously is about kurtofsky. if you don't like it, don't read it :)

KURT HUMMEL HAD NEVER BEEN given the opportunity to shine in Lima, Ohio. In fact, most of his existence was spent having to hide his shine. Most of the midwest didn't take too kindly to people like Kurt--someone who was unapologetically himself and made no apologies for it. He was comfortable in his skin when most people weren't. He spent most of his high school experience being targeted by the football jocks. There was one person in particular who had made his life a living hell. Someone who had pushed him into lockers and threatened his life more times than he could count and still, Kurt felt sorry for him. Sorry that someone could have such a cold heart that seeing someone love how they want to love could be threatening to them. 

Dave Karofsky was many things back then, but he wasn't a bad person. He made so many mistakes when it came to Kurt. Kurt was this out and proud gay man who took no prisoners. He had no qualms with any homophobia thrown his way. He had learned to hold his head high and turn the other cheek and Dave just hadn't been able to accept that for himself. Dave was so in the closest he could find his Christmas presents. He was so in denial about who he was that he thought breaking Kurt would shut off the gay in him, but it only managed to make it stronger, for him to start falling for Kurt. Not because he liked Kurt or wanted to be with him, but because Kurt knew who he was and managed to be proud of it, but Dave couldn't do that for himself. He envied the way Kurt could be so happy and he couldn't, so he took it out on him and broke him. And Dave lived with that regret every day of his life. 

Until the culmination of all the mean words and hurtful actions ended with a kiss that neither party liked to remember. A kiss Dave gave Kurt only because he wanted to know what it was like to kiss another guy and not be ashamed of it. Because he had spent his whole life knowing that he could never be like Kurt. That he could never be happy. That he could never be himself. It was a kiss of desperation. All he wanted was to be heard and so he threw himself onto Kurt, pulling his face into his hands and whimpered as his lips met a pair of softer ones that wanted nothing to do with him. And that was when he knew--he was gay and there was nothing to be done about it but to admit it to himself and stop all the harrassment and help Kurt for once. 

Their relationship after that moment was hit and miss. For a long time, Dave tried to act like it never happened and that Kurt was just making things up. When Dave apologized, Kurt didn't exactly believe him, but he was willing to give him a shot to prove himself. Dave spent many a night crying over what had gone down between the two and apologized to Kurt endlessly. He felt so guilty. So disgusting. He didn't think he deserved to be happy, deserved to have anyone love him after the way he treated Kurt. 

<  
His senior year he moved to a different school and everything was forgotten. The two had moved on from each other's lives. Kurt was in a loving relationship with a boy he met when he transferred to an all-boys school that year to get away from Dave and they were still happily in love. Dave had let football become his focus and he tried to forget about that part of his life at his new school. He just wanted to get through his last year and when he moved out and went to college, maybe then he'd be ready to come out. That was until Dave ran into Kurt at a bar and suddenly he felt alive again. 

He started to think about everything he did their junior year and thought about the possibility of him not just envying Kurt but truly liking him too and it all made sense again. He spent months after that coming to terms with the fact that he was falling in love with Kurt and when he finally mustered up some courage and told him, it all came tumbling down. 

One of his teammates saw his confession to Kurt and he was outed. All his friends had dropped. His own mother wanted nothing to do with him anymore and he just thought, what's the point? I never deserved love anyway. So he attempted to kill himself and he could've gotten away with it, had his dad not found him. If his dad would've just let him do, everyone else would be a lot happier, he thought. He had nothing to live for anymore. 

But somehow Kurt kept him breathing. 

Kurt visited him in the hospital and they dreamt up this fantasy world for Dave, years in the future where he could have a husband and a son to take football games to and suddenly it was like he could breathe again. He had a future waiting for him. His life didn't stop at eighteen. He had so many good things to look forward to and by far, the best was falling in love with Kurt. 

After a God awful senior year, Dave was finally in college where he could just be himself. He was going to Columbia in New York which is not somewhere he'd imagined himself going, but he felt so at home here. He was out here. He was proud to be himself and he was happy. Happier than he had been in his whole life. He was dating. It was great. 

Dave had a date tonight at the Spotlight diner and he was really looking forward to it. He'd had a crush on the guy in his Sociology class for months now and finally Pete had agreed to a date. Dave was the first to get to the diner. He wore a nice button with a blazer. He wanted to impress Pete, but a ten minute wait turned to thirty which led itself to the hour and Dave was finally ready to just head home and call it a night. Pete had stood him up and as much as it stung, that was life. That was until a familiar blue eyed brunette popped up to his table with a notepad in hand. 

"Hi, I'm Kurt. I'll be your new waiter this evening." Kurt introduced himself, not bothering to look up from his pad until Dave called his name and he broke out into a smile.

"David! What are you doing here?" Kurt smiled, asking his old friend. Though at one point they had been mortal enemies, Dave's suicide attempt changed everything for them. 

"I-I was supposed to be on a date, but he never showed." Dave stuttered a bit. He wasn't sure how Kurt would react the fact that Dave was finally out. 

Kurt turned his head to the counter and called out that he was taking an intermission which apparently meant a break as Kurt explained to him and he sat across from Dave in the booth. 

"That's great, David. I'm so proud of you!" Kurt held a geniune smile as he reached across the table and held Dave's hand. For just a split second, Dave's heart fluttered, but he quickly wrote it off as an empty stomach and smiled, moving his hand. 

"Thanks. So, where's Blaine?" Dave asked curiously. He didn't know that Blaine had cheated on Kurt and they were currently separated. He only saw Kurt's smile turn to a frown and his bright blue eyes darken with sadness. 

"We're, um, not together anymore." Kurt sniffled and this time it was Dave who grabbed Kurt's hand. He hated seeing Kurt upset like this. It reminded him of how he looked the first time Dave kissed him. How confused and shocked he was. How disgusted he looked with Dave, but said man tried to push it to the back of his mind. 

Even Dave couldn't ignore how good Kurt looked. In high school, Kurt had always been the lanky small teen gay. He wore the bedazzled jackets and pink suspenders. This Kurt in front of Dave was a different man. He was built. It was as if his biceps were going to burst out of that work uniform at any sudden movement and he had a more chiseled jaw than before. His hair was coiffed up and had a bit of highlights to the tips. He seemed more grown up than the Kurt he knew a year ago. Dave hadn't changed as much as Kurt, but he'd lost quite a bit of weight. Not so much as to make a big difference, but enough that he finally felt okay with his body and didn't mind showing it anymore. 

"I'm sorry." Dave frowned at Kurt's confession, rubbing his thumb on Kurt's hand. 

Kurt put on a brave face, then checked his watch. "It's okay. Listen, I get off in an hour. Maybe we could go out after. I'd love to catch up."

Dave nodded instantly and grinned. "Yeah, I'd love that."

"Great. I'll see you in an hour then." 

That night they didn't go anywhere special. They went back to Dave's apartment and they watched a bunch of Marvel movies and chatted over a cup of coffee. Then Dave dropped Kurt off his apartment and their Friday coffee dates became the staple of their friendship. For a long time, they were strictly friends. It took over a year of friendship before Kurt just threw caution to the wind and kissed him. And ten years later, Kurt had become that beautiful husband they fantasized about when Dave was in the hospital and they had two daughters instead who loved to go to football games. 

Though things started out bad, they found the light at the end of the tunnel was each other. They were always meant to be each other's saviors. It was fate that they ran into each other that day. It was fate that they managed to fall in love in a way neither ever expected to. It was fate that the bully and the victim became husbands and best friends. It was a love story no one ever asked for, but were blessed with anyway


End file.
